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More flexible school days could be in the future for NY

A possible change to school calendars would give districts more flexibility in scheduling.

A proposal made by the New York State Education Department would switch from a 'number of school days per year' guideline, to hours per year.

Right now, the department requires schools be in session 180 days a year, something that can easily get messed up by parent teacher conferences or snow days.

Spokesperson for the Rochester City School District Carlos Garcia says this would also help college prep students who attend some classes at MCC.

"So they can come in later, they can come in earlier etc. So I would envision some of our high schools, especially seniors in high schools, would be able to have that type of flexibility built into the schedules.”

While this is something that would benefit RCSD, Garcia says changes would then also occur with the unions.

"Some of these changes may actually affect some of our labor partners and so that has to be not only discussed with them and in some cases negotiated with them."

Right now minimum hours required vary with the grade level involved. 

Copyright 2017 WXXI News

Caitlin Whyte
Caitlin joins WXXI after working down the street at Stephens Media Group where, she co hosted a children's radio show, "Saturday Morning CarTunes" on WARM 101.3 and worked as a traffic reporter for various affiliates.